Former Google executive Yousuf Imran left his nearly USD 1 million job over layoff fears and AI boom 'FOMO', launching Mangosteen Studio, a self-funded AI startup building sales software. During his final year at Google, Imran earned a total W-2 income of approximately USD 986,000, which included a base salary of USD 170,000 supplemented heavily by sales commissions. Imran noted that compensation structures at pure-play AI companies operate on a vastly different scale, stating, "the equity packages at OpenAI and Anthropic are in a different universe." He also cited job security concerns, explaining, "the uncertainty of a potential layoff was another input into my decision to bet on myself." Imran, an experienced sales leader who specialized in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, immigrated to New York from Bangladesh at age five and spent two decades in quota-carrying sales roles at major tech companies.